Woven fabric



y 13, 1952 c. D. WILLIAMSON ETAL 6, 03

George bl ller 15M w/flwf Mai TTTTTTTT Ys V N INVENTORS,

0 Charles D.Willi am5on l BY Patented May 13, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WOVEN FABRIC Charles D. Williamson, Fort Worth, Tex., and

George Fuller, New Rochelle, N.'Y., assignors to Williamson-Dickie ,Manufacturing 100., Fort- Worth, Tex., a corporation of Texas A pl c tion A t "1, wit-swarm. 167,308

5 Claims;

This invention relates to woven fabrics and particularly concerns a long wearing woven cotton fabric suitable for Workclothes.

Experience has developed four major factors which are desirable in cloth from which work clothes are made. First,,the cloth must present an appearance of fineness and lustre. Also, it shouldresist stretching to avoid noticeable bags at the knees, elbows and other strainpoints as well asgenerally resisting wrinkling or mussing. Secondly, the interior or back surface of the cloth should be soft and smooth so it willbe comfortableon the wearer. Thirdly, the cloth should ,have long wearing characteristics and, fourthly, it should be economical to manufacture.

Heretofore fabrics which incorporated desirable factors of appearance, comfort and wear became too expensive to be made economically for work clothing. Efforts to maintain quality at'reduced cost frequently resulted in these three desirable characteristics being found to be technically incompatible. For example, a cloth which would resist bagging at the knee might not be elastic to body movement. cloth which would present a pleasant appearance would not be comfortable on the wearer or would not have the necessary ruggedness for long wear.

It is a major object of the present invention to incorporate desirable characteristics of appearance, comfort and wear in-a cloth which may be economically manufactured.

Another object of the invention 'is to provide a cloth for work pants and work shirts which will have longer wearing characteristics.

A further object of the-invention is to provide a cloth forwork clothing which will combine characteristics of a desirable appearance of fineness and lustre on its outer surface with a smooth, soft inner surface comfortable for the wearer.

A more particular object of the invention is to increase-the wearing characteristics of cotton cloth by providing a woven cloth wherein the abrasion and tension wearing factors are carried by different yarns.

Another specific object of theinvention is to provide a cloth for-cotton work clothes wherein the fillingyarns are protected on both the face and the back of the cloth.

A still further objectof the invention is to provide awoven cotton fabric wherein the-back warps are not visible from the face of the cloth and the face warps are not visiblefrom the back of the cloth. r

Similarly,

.Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein,

.Figurel isa diagrammatic perspectiveillustration with the various yarns separated and showing a woven fabric embodying the invention in its preferred form;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken along .a line Z--2 parallel to the warps of a fabric embodying the invention; and V Fig. 31s a schematic view looking in the direction of the warp yarns of afabric embodying the invention.

According to the invention in its preferred form three separate yarns are used. These'inelude face warps which. are selected :01? yarns presenting a desirable appearance of fineness and lustre as well as having 'long-wearin'gycharacteristics. Back warps :may be less expensive yarns butwhich are soft to be comfortable on the wearer. The back warps are woven with longer'fioats-than the face warps so they are less extensible and, therefore, bear-most of the tension in a direction longitudinally of the cloth. Inasmuch aszthe wefts are'protected on both the front and back of the cloth-they may be'selected of some wrinkle resistant yarn which is not necessarily lon wearing.

The face warps and wefts are woven to present the desirable appearance, while the back warps and wefts ,are woven so they formja soft smooth back surface, comfortable on thewearer. Both the face'and back warps substantially-cover the entire surface so the 'wefts or filling are protected on both sides.

In the embodiment of theinvention shown in the drawings, the wefts are numbered I through 8, and the face warps are numbered I through 8. The wefts and face warps are woven in a 3/1 twill weave so the face warps predominate on the face of the cloth. Inasmuch as the face warps cover as much as of the external surface of the cloth, almost the entire appearance of the cloth depends uponthe quality of the yarns forming the face warps. Also, these same face warps receive almost all of the abrasion affecting the wearing qualities of the cloth. Inasmuch as the wefts are almost invisible on the face of the cloth and are subject to almost no abrasive wear, it is not particularly necessary that they have either desirable appearing or long wearing characteristics.

In addition to :the face warps numbered I through 8'. the material includes backwarps numbered I" through 8".

As shown in the drawings, the face warps and back warps are woven in superposition, so the back warps are invisible on the face of the cloth and, for the same reason, the face warps are invisible on the back of the cloth. Thus, the back warps do not influence the appearance of the face of the fabric.

In the embodiment of -the invention shown in the drawings, the back warps and wefts form a '7/1 satin weave. Thus, the floats of the back warps extend over '7 wefts, whereas the floats of the face warps extend over only 3 wefts. Furthermore, the face warps have twice as many crimps per unit of length as the back warps.

Because they are more crimped, the face warps are more extensible than the back warps, causing the back warps to carry any tension applied to the cloth. This will be clear from an inspection of Fig. 2 which clearly shows the longer floats of the back warps and the additional crimps of the face warps.

Obviously, tension applied at the ends of the warp threads would be carried by the back warps because they cannot be extended as far as the face warps. Thus, as the cloth is stretched in a direction longitudinally of the warp threads, the back warps reach their maximum elongation before any material tensional force is applied to the face warps.

This is particularly advantageous because the wearing qualities of work clothes depend upon the abrasive and tension characteristics of the sirable appearance and having high abrasive resistance, such as combed two ply cotton yarns. These yarns will resist abrasion for a longer time as they are not subjected to tension and abrasion simultaneously. For increased abrasive resistance, a mixture of synthetic fiber and cotton yarns may be used for the face warps. Since the back warps are less extensible than the face warps, they carry substantially all of the tension load. At the same time, the back warps are subjected to a minimum of abrasive wear because they are protected by the face warps and the weft or filling yarns. A carded single ply cotton yarn has proven satisfactory for the back warp and the filling.

The particular embodiment of the invention described herein not only separates abrasion and tension between the face and back warps, but, in addition, the 3/1 twill weave of the face warps presents a better appearance on the exterior surface of the cloth and the 7/1 satin weave of the back warps forms a smoother surface which is form the interior or back surface of the fabric the eight back warps are woven in a 7/1 satin weave.

The dual nature of the cloth is thus accomplished by using a 3/1 four harness twill weave on the face and a '7/1 eight harness satin weave on the back. With this particular arrangement, the face warps have twice as many crimps as the back warps and are, therefore, considerably more extensible than th back warps. In addition, the satin weave on the back provides a very smooth surface which is pleasing to the wearer.

As previously mentioned, the face and back warps are arranged in superposition. This provides maximum protection for the wefts as illustrated in Figure 3.

While it is not an essential feature of the invention, it has been found desirable to have each crimp of the back warps arranged adjacent one of the crimps in the corresponding face warp. As shown most clearly in Figure 2, a crimp. ll formed in the back warp B" where it passes over weft 2, is adjacent crimp l2 in corresponding face warp 6' where it passes under the next adjacent weft 3. One advantage of this arrangement is that it provides maximum resiliency in the fabric because two corresponding warps yield at adjacent points.

Furthermore, it reduces the number of crimps in the wefts without materially affecting the extensibility thereof.

As illustrated in Figure 3, weft l passes over the face warp 8 and then under the adjacent back warp I". This is accomplished by having the crimp in back warp I" alined with the crimp in contiguous face warp 8'. As is apparent in Fig. l, the crimps in the back warps are alined with alternate crimps in the face warp. Thus, the crimp in back warp 2" is alined with the crimp of contiguous face warp I under weft 6, whereas the crimp in the next back warp 3" is alined with the crimp in contiguous face warp 2' under weft 3.

Referring to Fig, 1, it will be seen that this arrangement of the crimps results from the group of face warps being woven with the wefts to form a 3/1 twill in 2, 3, 4, 1 order and repeating in 6, '7, 8, 5 order while the back warps are woven with the wefts to form a 'l/l satin weave in 1, 6, 3, 8, 5, 2, 7, 4, order.

The fabric described herein satisfies the requirements of appearance, comfort and wear. By this invention, the important desirabl characteristics of work clothing fabrics are economically incorporated in the cloth because only the face warps need be formed of expensive yarns. Since the wefts and back warps are not subjected toabrasion and do not materially affect the exterior appearance of the cloth they may be formed of less expensive yarns.

What is claimed is:

1. A woven fabric for work clothes comprising one or more groups of 8 wefts composed of carded single-ply yarn,one or more pairs of groups of 4 abrasion resistant face warps composed of combed two-ply yarn presenting an attractive appearance, one or more groups of 8 soft back warps composed of soft carded single-ply yarn, the face warps forming a 3/1 twill weave so the abrasion resistant warps cover a major portion of the face of the fabric to protect the wefts and back warps from abrasion, the back warps forming a 7/1 satin weave so the soft warps present a smooth, comfortable back surface for the wearer.

2. A woven cotton fabric for work clothes comprising face warps having floats on the face of the fabric and back warps having longer floats on the back of the fabric, said face and back warps being arranged iri superposition, said back warps having crimps between said longer floats adjacent crimps between the floats of corresponding face warps and alined with crimps in contiguous face warps.

3. A woven cotton fabric for work clothes, said fabric having face warps of cotton yarn forming a 3/1 twill weave and back warps of cotton yarn forming a 7/1 satin weave, said face and back warps being arranged in superposition, crimps in said back warps being arranged adjacent crimps in superposed face warps and alined with crimps in contiguous face warps.

4. A woven fabric for work clothes comprising one or more groups of 8 Wefts, one or more pairs of groups of 4 abrasive resistant face warps, and one or more groups of 8 soft back warps, each group of face warps forming a 3/1 twill weave in 2, 3, 4, 1 order and. repeating in 6, 7, 8, 5 order, each group of back warps forming a 7/1 satin weave in 1, 6, 3, 8, 5, 2, 7, 4. order so the crimps in said back warps are arranged adjacent alternate crimps in corresponding face warps and alined with alternate crimps in contiguous face warps.

5. A woven cotton fabric for work clothes comprising one or more groups of 8 wefts, one or more pairs of groups of 4 abrasive resistant face warps, and one or more groups of 8 softback warps, said face and back warps being arranged in superposition, each group of face warps forming a 3 1 twill weave in 2, 3, 4, 1 order and repeat- 6 ing in 6, 7, 8, 5 order, each group of back warps forming a 7/1 satin weave in 1, 6, 3, 8, 5, 2, 7, 4 order so the crimps in said. back warps are arranged adjacent alternate crimps in superposed face warps and alined with alternate crimps in contiguous face warps.

CHARLES D. WILLIAMSON. GEORGE FULLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 11,120 Fay June 20, 1854 16,870 Carleton Mar. 24, 1857 1,775,144 Sherman Sept. 9, 1930 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,876 Great Britain of 1838 241,973 Great Britain Nov. 5, 1925 42,670 Holland Oct. 15, 1937 53,238 Norway Oct. 30, 1933 OTHER REFERENCES Staple Cotton Fabrics by I-Ioye; published in 1942 by McGraw-Hill Book Co. of New York. Pages 92 and 93.

Weaves Fabrics Textile Designing; International Library of Technology; published by International Textbook Co. of Scranton, Pa. Section 79, pages 9 and. 14. 

